Chapter 7. Might of an S-rank skill
I got up and looked at the abomination, paying special attention to the right arm that was stretched and pointed downwards, threateningly close to where Mr. Willis and I stood a few moments ago.
The punch and the effect it generated wasn't something I would want to face head-on. I searched for signs of injury, that was supposed to appear from Mr. Willis's hit, but I wasn't able to determine any such wound on its head.
Too sturdy! If that hit wasn't enough, I didn't know how we could ever cause enough damage to actually kill it. Even if we run away, assuming that we could while facing such a situation, I couldn't bet on the chances of finding weaker monsters to level up. In the scenario that the zone would only dissolve upon getting rid of all the abominations, we would have to eventually face monsters that were equally or even far stronger than the one in front of us.
Its legs were its only weakness. The bias in monsterification, if that was a word, creates a severe restriction in its movements, such as evasion or chasing, but the sturdy upper body which protects all its vital parts and being seemingly impenetrable covers up for that part.
Facing such a situation, we didn't have any other choice but to fight. I was already regretting the decision of starting the fight by then but we didn't have a choice any more.
I opened up the skills tab of my interface and focused on my only active skill.
Lightning Steps:
Increases your speed by [+50% * agility] for 20 seconds and can leave a trail of lightning behind while you run.
Zap: Those hit by your lightning trail will receive an electric shock with a chance of being affected by 'scalding' (damage by scalding = 0.1*agility under the effect of lightning steps).
Note: The use of lightning steps causes a massive drain to your stamina. Use under caution.
This was the only weapon we had against the monster but the high stamina requirement made me want to reconsider.
What if I drain out all my stamina? What will happen then? What if another monster appears and I am out of stamina?
As I was thinking about all sorts of scenarios, I heard a loud war cry from beside me and Mr. Willis charged forward, gripping the bat tightly, towards the abomination which was now looking at us with a wide grin plastered on its face. It appears to have gotten a high dose of endorphin from the looks of fear on our faces after its attempt to blow us into smithereens with its punch.
As Mr. Willis closed in on the monster, he swung the bat as hard as he could while dashing forward without losing momentum and just as the three of us believed that it would make solid contact against the monster's face, it caught the bat with its left hand. The arm moved up extremely fast barely giving him any time to react to it at all.
Catching the bat with its left arm, the monster jerked its left hand to the right, releasing the bat and launching Mr. Willis into the air.
He flew over a meter before crashing into the wall and landing between the desks. Blood started to flow from his head, slowly dripping over his eyes as he was blinking fast and trying hard to stay conscious while groaning in pain.
The bat flew out of his hands while in the air and rolled over closer to me before stopping by a chair.
I turned back to see Ms. Willis panicking, worried about her brother, while constantly stealing glances of fear towards the abomination.
Moving towards the bat I instructed her, "Drag him out and treat him. Don't worry. He'll be fine. If anything, that guy can take a few hits. Just wait for me outside, I will take care of our friend here!"
She nodded slowly before moving towards her brother.
"Ahh… give me another of those bars from the office. They seemed tasty." I said, trying to laugh.
She quickly threw a bar at me, seeming to have figured out the reason, before continuing to move her brother out.
I turned my attention towards the abomination. It wasn't time for me to attack it yet. I had to wait for the twins to make it out safely and I had to set the place up for me to stand a chance against it.
The abomination slowly got up, supporting itself with its arms in the action. It still had that annoying grin, showing all of its teeth, on its face while it looked at me then towards the twins.
"Nuh uh…. You are gonna play with me, big boy!" I threw a bag towards it to attract its attention back towards me. Having figured out that the abominations grow stronger every kill, just like the rest of us, I needed it to focus on me and not chase after another prey. Right now was the best shot I had at taking it down!
As it turned its gaze back to me, I pushed the chairs and desks that were near me, to make more space around me for easy movement.
I knew that the bat wouldn't work against its upper body, but it was the only weapon I had. So, I have to drag the time out, until I could create enough space for me to use my skill, by evasion and targeting its lower body.
The monster started to walk towards me. This time, it moved faster than before. As it was coming closer to me, while it was still moving forward, it started to throw out its punch.
The pace was faster. It threw a punch that was harder to dodge this time. I could only roll backwards to dodge the punch but the monster still possessed momentum that moved it closer to me.
I could feel the abnormality. The vast difference between the two monster I have faced. This one was using technique. It wasn't in a blind charge towards its enemy. It was moving forward with intelligence.
As the abomination came closer to me, I rolled to the side forcing a few chairs out of the way to avoid the second punch.
This wouldn't do. If I continued in the same way, I would be cornered sooner or later without even being able to put up a fight.
As I was about to get up from the cluster of chairs, the abomination picked up a chair and threw it towards me. It wasn't just using its body anymore.
It threw the chair to my right, forcing me to dodge to the left, while it started to charge towards me again. Sensing the impending doom, I activated my active skill, in spite of its heavy stamina drain notice, I could find no other sequence that would help me survive this fight without using the skill.
Survival. That was the only thing I needed to pay attention to and I had to do everything I could, use everything I need to increase my chances of survival.
I currently had 29 points in my agility stat. 6 points more than I had this morning, and I could already feel the difference. If it was a half hour ago, I would have had my head blown into pieces by the abomination without even knowing what happened.
I have to say that Mr. Willis turned out lucky, mostly owing it to the monster's posture, by only being thrown away from his blind charge despite his low agility stat.
Using 'Lightning Steps' gave me a 50% boost to my agility stat, landing it at 43.5 points, more than 20 points higher than this morning, along with the zap effect. Truly deserving of being an S-rank reward.
So, immediately after dodging from the chair, I activated the skill 'Lightning Steps' and suddenly time seemed to slow down for everything in my surrounding.
The abomination in front of me appeared to have the same agility as me and had a highly skilled punch that made complete use of its strength and agility stats. Accelerating quickly to reach maximum velocity to output more force.
This was the style I had to use to defeat it right now. I had to find the most efficient way to convert Lightning Steps' agility into strength while dealing a blow to the abomination
With its fist moving towards me, I jumped back and secured as much run up as I could to attack it while it's still off-balance from the attack.
I tightened my grip around the bat and charged towards the abomination. As it saw me coming, it swung its right fist again towards me but I spun to my left dodging the fist and swung the bat, using all the speed I gained to strike its right eye.
Upon contact, blood gushed from its socket, as it stumbled forward, clutching its face and howling in pain.
It was kneeling on its right leg. Yes, the monster that looked invincible just a few moments ago was brought down to its knees with just one hit under the influence of the skill.
I was astonished by the result. Mr. Willis and the wall couldn't as much give it a scratch, while I could take away nearly half its HP with just that one hit, also impairing its vision.
I didn't need to drag it out longer. The power that I could generate with the help of Lightning Steps was far higher than I imagined. All I needed was one decisive hit. A solid hit on of one its vital points while using Lightning Step's agility.
I secured enough distance to reach full speed before reaching the abomination and charged towards it, while it was still consumed by its own pain, mourning for its eye.
A finishing blow to the hand at full speed. That was what I was aiming for with the charge and I was well on course until the last step.
As soon as I closed in the gap and started my swing before taking the final step, my vision dimmed and I slowly started falling forwards. My swing missed the head and hit right below its neck.
I heard Ms. Willis's loud voice in my head, "DANNY!", before my vision completely blacked out. With a thud, my body landed on the floor right beside the knee of the abomination.